The Vietnam War, 19541975

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The Vietnam War 1954 - 1975

• Americas most unpopular war
• Cost LBJ his second term to Richard Nixon
• Americas longest and most expensive war
• Divided America on the homefront
• The best technical war money could buy
• America hardly ever lost a tactical battle
• A war America did not win

Today, we are living with the ghosts of Vietnam.
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Background of the War

• According to President Eisenhowers domino
  theory, if one Southeast Asian nation fell to
  communism, others would soon follow.
• Ho Chi Minh, a pro-Communist leader in Vietnam,
  led a group called the Vietminh against French
  control of his nation before, during, and after
  World War II.
• After the Vietminh successfully defeated the
  French in 1954, a peace agreement called the
  Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into Communist
  North Vietnam and anti-Communist South Vietnam.
  Ho Chi Minh led North Vietnam, while Ngo Dinh
  Diem led South Vietnam.
• The United States began providing economic aid to
  the French in Vietnam in 1950. In 1960, President
  Eisenhower sent hundreds of military advisors to
  help South Vietnams struggle against the North.

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Communist ExpansionCONTAINMENT
Soviet Union1918
X
Berlin Blockade 1947-8
X
Eastern Europe1946
China1949
X
Korean War1950 to 1953
Cuban Missile Crisis
Vietnam War1946 to 1975US Involvement1965 to
1975
Cuba would remain and still is a communist
country.

• CONTAINMENT
• Marshall Plan
• Berlin Airlift
• NATO
• Korean War
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• Alliance for Progress
• Peace Corps

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Southeast Asian ConflictA Chronology of Events
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war sides
CONFLICTING INTERESTS IN VIETNAM
INDIVIDUALS/GROUPS POINT OF VIEW

• Ho Chi Minh
• North Vietnamese Army
• Communist insurgents
• Revolt against the South Vietnamese Govt
• VC Viet Cong or South Vietnamese guerrillas
• Ngo Dinh Diem
• South Vietnamese Army
• United States

• North Vietnam leader
• Free of foreign interference
• Re-unite Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh as communists
• Dictator of SVN
• Used US aid to keep power
• Feared Communist takeover of South Vietnam
• Supported Diem to keep SVN free
• US willing to commit troops

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HO CHI MINH
You can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill
of yours, yet even at those odds, you will lose
and I will win

• Founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party
• Traveled for almost 30 years around the world.
  Visited France, England, Russia, China, Thailand
  and the United States.
• In that time he learned to speak fluent Russian,
  Chinese and English.
• Patriot or Communist?
• Motivated the Vietnamese to rebel and fight
  against France/US for independence.
• Became Vietnams first president.

Ho Chi Minh 1890-1969 Light-Bringer"

• I first met Ho on the China border between China
  and Indochina in the last days of April of 1945.
  He was an interesting individual. Very sensitive,
  very gentle, rather a frail type. We spoke quite
  at length about the general situation, not only
  in Indochina, but the world at large.
  ARCHIMEDES PATTI (OSS Officer)

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NGO DINH DIEM

• First democratically elected President of South
  Vietnam in 1955.
• Next 7 years, he presided over an increasingly
  corrupt, nepotistic and repressive regime.
• Communist guerrillas (VC) backed by North Vietnam
  launched a new rebellion

• A civil disobedience led by the country's
  Buddhist monks contributed more directly to his
  downfall.
• Brutal persecution of Buddhist monks in 1963
  damaged Diems shaky international reputation.
• With US support, Vietnamese generals overthrew
  and assassinated Ngo later that year.

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vn map
The War in Southeast Asia
Domino Theory Must contain communism and not
allow it to spread. If it does, it would lead to
more countries falling to the communists.
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Background to the War

• Vietnamese culture
• Villages and rice
• Buddhist
• Historic tension with Chinese
• Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia were originally a
  French colony (French IndoChina) in the late19th
  century
• Imperialism

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Background to the War
1941

• Japan took control during World War II
• Opposed by guerrilla force led by Ho Chi Minh
• US backed Ho Chi Minhs to remove Japan

• Japanese Expansion
• 1933 1941
• Control Attacks

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Background to the War

• At end of WW II, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an
  independent nation
• President Truman refused to recognize Ho Chi Minh
  and Vietnam.
• With U.S. aid, France attempted re-colonize
  Vietnam

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Background to the War

• Fighting between France and Vietminh began in
  1946
• The French lost control to Ho Chi Minhs Viet
  Minh forces at Dien Bien Phu. May 7, 1954
• France requested US air support
• Nuclear if necessary
• President Eisenhower declined to intervene on
  behalf of France.
• French withdrew from Indochina

French defeat at Dien Bien Phu
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Background to the War

• International Conference at Geneva in 1954
• Vietnam was divided at 17th parallel
• Ho Chi Minhs nationalist forces controlled the
  North
• Ngo Dinh Diem, a French-educated, Roman Catholic
  claimed control of the South
• Elections were to be held two years later.

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SEATO Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

• Initiated by the US in Sept 1954 to prevent
  spread of communism
• Domino Theory
• Member nations were US, Great Britain, France,
  Australia, New Zealand, Thailand Philippines, and
  Pakistan
• Didnt require participants to support each other
  with military force
• Politically justified US actions in South Vietnam

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Background to the War

• A date was set for democratic elections to
  reunify Vietnam
• Diem backed out of the elections, leading to
  military conflict between North and South

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U.S. Military Involvement Begins

• Repressive dictatorial rule by Diem
• Diems family holds all power
• Wealth is hoarded by the elite
• Buddhist majority persecuted
• Torture, lack of political freedom prevail
• The U.S. aided Diems government
• Ike sent financial and military aid
• 675 U.S. Army advisors sent by 1960.

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Early Protests of Diems Government
Self-Emulation by a Buddhist Monk protesting
against the brutality of Diems government
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1960

• April 1955--US agrees to advise South Vietnam
• Green Berets arrive Oct. 1959to train only South
  Vietnam troops.
• 1959 -- North Vietnam increased actions to unify
  North and South insurgents
• US increased action to prevent a North Vietnam
  victory

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U.S. Military Involvement Begins

• Kennedy elected 1960
• Increases military advisors to 16,000
• 1963 JFK supports a S. Vietnamese military coup
  detat Diem and his brother are murdered (Nov.
  2)
• Kennedy was assassinated just weeks later (Nov.
  22)

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Kennedys Vietnam Policy

• Diems Downfall
• During the early 1960s, Ngo Dinh Diems policies
  lost him the support of his people.
• Realizing that the struggle against communism
  could not be won under Diems rule, President
  Kennedy told South Vietnamese military leaders
  that the United States would not object to Diems
  overthrow.
• In November 1963, military leaders seized control
  of South Vietnam and assassinated Diem.

• McNamaras Role
• Robert McNamara, President Kennedys Secretary of
  Defense, was influential in shaping American
  policy toward Vietnam.
• McNamara used his strong business background to
  cut costs while modernizing the armed forces.
• In the coming years, McNamara would push for
  direct American involvement in Vietnam.

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U.S. Troop Deployments in Vietnam
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1961 and 1962
In order to contain the spread of Communism,
newly elected President Kennedy agreed to further
US military assistance to South Vietnam.
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1963
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President Johnson and Communist Advances

• Shortly after Diems assassination in November
  1963, President Kennedy was assassinated, and
  Vice President Johnson assumed the presidency.
• In South Vietnam, the military leaders who had
  taken over the government were unsuccessful and
  unpopular. As a result, Communist guerrillas in
  South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, made gains
  in both territory and loyalty. The Viet Congs
  political wing was known as the National
  Liberation Front.

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vietnam collage
VIETNAM WAR

• Why are we in South Vietnam? We are there
  because we have a promise to keep. Since 1954
  every American President has offered to support
  the people of South Vietnam.
• We have helped to build and we have helped to
  defend. Thus, over many years, we have made a
  national pledge to help South Vietnam defend its
  independence.

Lyndon Johnson, Speech at Johns Hopkins
University, "Why are we in South Vietnam"
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vietnam collage
VIETNAM WAR

• I intend to keep our promise. To dishonor that
  pledge, to abandon this small and brave nation to
  its enemy and to the terror that must follow
  would be an unforgivable wrong.
• We are there to strengthen world order.

Lyndon Johnson, Speech at Johns Hopkins
University, "Why are we in South Vietnam"
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vietnam collage
VIETNAM WAR

• Around the globe from Berlin to Thailand are
  people whose well-being rests, in part, on the
  belief they can count on us if they are attacked.
  
• To leave Vietnam to its fate would shake the
  confidence of all these people in the value of
  American commitment. The result would be
  increased unrest and instability, or even war.

Lyndon Johnson, Speech at Johns Hopkins
University, "Why are we in South Vietnam"
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Johnson Sends Ground Forces

• Remembers Trumans loss of China --gt Domino
  Theory revived

Im not going to be the president who saw
Southeast Asia go the way China went.
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Johnson Sends Ground Forces

• Advised to rout the communists by Secretary of
  State, Robert S. McNamara

• Tonkin Gulf Incident --gt 1964(acc. to Johnson
  attacks were unprovoked)
• Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• The Blank Check

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1964

• Aug 64 -- N Vietnamese gunboats attack 2 US
  destroyers in Gulf of Tonkinmaybe

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1964

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Passed by Congress 5 Aug 1964
• Radically altered the War in Southeast Asia
• Gave President Johnson a blank check
• To take all necessary steps to repel armed
  attack against US forces, including force, to
  assist South Vietnam and any member of SEATO
• Committed US to fight for S Vietnam

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Expanding Presidential Power
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
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The Vietnam War, 1964 to 1975
1964Gulf of Tonkin Incident
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The Ho Chi Minh Trail

• North Vietnamese troops and supplies entered
  South Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a route
  that passed through Laos and Cambodia.

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Intensifying the War

• After the election of 1964, President Johnson
  began a gradual escalation, or expansion of the
  war. The number of American soldiers stationed in
  Vietnam rose from about 25,000 at the beginning
  of 1965 to nearly 536,000 by the end of 1968.
• Originally, American soldiers had been sent to
  advise the South Vietnamese now their task was
  to prop up a failing South Vietnamese government
  led by Nguyen Cao Ky.
• Despite the large buildup of American troops,
  between 1965 and 1967 the war was at a stalemate.
• Within the United States, debate raged between
  hawks, those who supported the war, and doves,
  those who did not.

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1965

• In February the US commences bombardment of North
  Vietnam and begins to send combat troops to
  Vietnam.

First U.S. combat troops land in Da Nang, South
Vietnam.
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The Air and Ground Wars

• Some Weapons Used in the Vietnam War
• Land Mines Land mines,which can be set off by
  the pressure of a footstep, are explosive devices
  planted in the ground. Viet Cong landmines killed
  and wounded both American GIs and Vietnamese
  civilians.
• Saturation Bombing American B-52 bomber planes
  dropped thousands of tons of explosives,
  resulting in saturation bombing of North Vietnam.
• Fragmentation Bombs Fragmentation bombs,
  dropped by Americans over both North and South
  Vietnam, threw pieces of their thick metal
  casings in all directions when they exploded. In
  South Vietnam, fragmentation bombs killed and
  maimed countless civilians.

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The Air and Ground Wars

• Some Weapons Used in the Vietnam War
• Agent Orange American pilots dropped an
  herbicide called Agent Orange over Vietnamese
  jungles, killing vegetation and exposing Viet
  Cong hiding places. Agent Orange was later
  discovered to cause health problems in livestock
  and humans.
• Napalm Another chemical weapon used in Vietnam,
  napalm,was a jellylike substance which, when
  dropped from planes splattered, and burned
  uncontrollably.

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The Air War1965-1968

• 1965 Sustained bombing of North Vietnam begins
• Operation Rolling Thunder (March 2, 1965)
• 1966-68 Ongoing bombing of Hanoi nonstop for 3
  years! Esp. targets the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
• Downed Pilots P.O.W.s
• Carpet Bombing napalm

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The Vietnam War, 1964 to 1975
1964Gulf of Tonkin Incident 1965First sustained
bombing of North Vietnam 1966U.S. air raids over
Hanoi, 1966 to 1968
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The Air WarA Napalm Attack
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The War in Southeast Asia Background

• Americans flew from bases in Thailand, Laos, Guam
  and South Vietnam
• Troops from Thailand, Australia, New Zealand,
  South Korea and Philippines fought with the US
  and South Vietnam
• China and the Soviet Union
• heavily supported North Vietnam

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Battlefield Conditions

• American Troops
• Had superior weapons
• Were unprepared for heat, terrain, or guerrilla
  tactics
• Lacked support of most South Vietnamese
• Most never saw the enemy but constantly faced the
  possibility of sudden danger.

• Viet Cong Troops
• Fought as guerrillas avoided head-on clashes
• Were familiar with terrain had support of many
  South Vietnamese
• Built and hid in elaborate underground tunnels

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Who Is the Enemy?

• Vietcong founded in South Vietnam who were
  communistssupported by N. Vietnam.
• Farmers by day guerillas at night.
• Very patient people willing to accept many
  casualties.
• The US grossly underestimated their resolve and
  their resourcefulness.
• Charlies to American Troops that will later
  fight them.

The guerilla wins if he does not lose, the
conventional army loses if it does not win.
-- Mao Zedong
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Who Is the Enemy?
The Vietcong consisted of a well organized
guerilla fighting force in South Vietnam. Their
guerilla and jungle hit and run tactics made them
a menace for American, South Vietnamese, and
other allied forces.
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Who Is the Enemy?
The Vietcong possessed underground networks of
tunnels Passageways that contained hidden
caches weapons and supplies that were difficult
to locate and destroy.
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vc
Who Is the Enemy?
Whos your enemy?U.S. and South Vietnamese
forces found it extremely difficult to fight the
Vietcongs hit and run tactics. Vietcong could
easily blend into a village where they could move
about freely since they did not belong to a
standard army.
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Who Is the Enemy?
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vc1
Who Is the Enemy?
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vc2
Who Is the Enemy?
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The Ground War 1965-1968

• No territorial goals
• Body counts on TV every night (first living
  room war)
• Viet Cong supplies over the Ho Chi Minh Trail

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The Ground War1965-1968

• General Westmoreland, late 1967 We can see
  the light at the end of the tunnel

• Wearing down to weaken or destroy "a war of
  attrition"

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The Tet Offensive, January 1968

• N. Vietnamese Army Viet Cong attack South
  simultaneously
• 80,000 attack 100 cities, bases and the US
  embassy in Saigon
• Take every major southern city
• U.S. ARVN beat back the offensive
• Viet Cong destroyed
• N. Vietnamese army debilitated

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The Vietnam War, 1964 to 1975
1964Gulf of Tonkin Incident 1965First sustained
bombing of North Vietnam 1966U.S. air raids over
Hanoi, 1966 to 1968 1968Tet Offensive, Jan. 30
to Feb. 24
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The Tet Offensive
US troops defending the American Embassy in Saigon
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The Tet Offensive A Turning Point

• On January 30, 1968, the Viet Cong and North
  Vietnam launched a major offensive. This series
  of attacks was called the Tet Offensive since it
  occurred during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.
• During and after the Tet Offensive, both sides
  were guilty of brutal atrocities. Communists
  slaughtered anyone they labeled an enemy
  Americans massacred hundreds of civilians at My
  Lai, a small village in South Vietnam. A
  helicopter crew that stopped the massacre was
  later rewarded, and the officer who had ordered
  it was imprisoned.
• Because Americans now knew that the Viet Cong
  could launch massive attacks, and because no end
  to the war was in sight, the Tet Offensive proved
  to be a major psychological victory for the Viet
  Cong and a turning point in the war.

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The Tet Offensive, January 1968
Because of the Tet Offensive, the US media
announced the US was loosing the war. Walter
Cronkite, part of CBS news who opposed the war
after Tet.
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Impact of the Tet Offensive

• Domestic U.S. Reaction Disbelief, Anger,
  Distrust of Johnson Administration
• Hey, Hey LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?

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Impact of the Tet Offensive
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1968
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Are We Becoming the Enemy?
Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry

• My lai Massacre, 1968
• 200-500 unarmed villagers

• Lt. William Calley, Platoon Leader

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The Vietnam War, 1964 to 1975
1964Gulf of Tonkin Incident 1965First sustained
bombing of North Vietnam 1966U.S. air raids over
Hanoi, 1966 to 1968 1968Tet Offensive, Jan. 30
to Feb. 24 My Lai Massacre, March 16